Dakota paced up and down the hallway of the Kane mansion. She hadn’t heard anything from Adam yet and the waiting was driving her mad. She and her father had managed to drive home without any issues. Adam’s Uncle Bill drove them home quickly and a nurse was waiting to bring her father back to the house. It had been a shock for John Kane to see several bearded bikers roaming around his house, but Dakota assured him they could be trusted. The house was on full lockdown, all doors and windows shut and locked, the security system turned on. But nothing had happened. They had arrived home and John had been put in his bedroom and now Dakota was stuck waiting.

 

Adam’s Uncle Bill was definitely the strong and silent type. He was older, with a lined face, arms covered in tattoos and neatly trimmed salt and pepper beard. He was walking the hallways of the house, keeping his head up and taking everything in. He was a confident man, smooth and never bumping into anything or tripping over the rugs. Dakota wanted to ask him a million questions. Who were Adam’s parents? What had Adam been like as a boy? But there was something in Bill’s manner that discouraged questions. He seemed always stern and in deep thought. Every time Dakota went to talk to him, she got the feeling she was disturbing him.

 

“When will we hear something?” Dakota asked Bill who had moved a curtain aside to look out the window.

 

“We’ll know soon. Hospital’s not more than thirty out,” Bill said, ending the conversation.

 

A phone buzzed and Dakota jumped, stopping in her tracks. She watched as Bill looked at his ringing phone. He gave her a quick glance and then answered. What if the worst had happened? Dakota thought. What if Adam or Joey or someone else had died or been hurt protecting someone who was miles away. They would have died for nothing. Dakota bit on her lower lip and watched as Bill took the call, but he remained as unreadable as ever. He just kept repeating the words yes and okay. It took all of Dakota’s inner strength to not rip the phone right out of his hand and demand answers in full sentences.

 

Bill hung up the phone and cleared his throat and Dakota wanted to scream. “They got the hit man. No one on our team was hurt. Other side has some injuries. The police have him. Adam should be here in twenty.”

 

Dakota let out a sob she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. She doubled over for a second before standing straight up and walking over to Bill and hugging him fiercely. The man was uncomfortable with the intimacy and he stammered for a moment before awkwardly patting Dakota on her shoulder. She released him and felt a tear slip down her cheek. But unlike so many of her recent tears, this one was born from happiness. They had stopped it they had actually done it. They had taken Andre’s advice and followed it to Lance Declor and from Lance to the pitiful Tommy. It had been a hunch--nothing more--that had led Dakota to assuming the day of her father’s release would be the attack date, but she had been right.

 

I could be a police detective, she thought as she raced down the hall to her father’s room, just like she had when she was a child. She stopped at the door and knocked gently.

 

“Come in,” she heard her father call. The contractors had done their job well. The room looked almost back to normal. It was only because Dakota had been raised in this house that she recognized the places where the wall had been repaired, where the wood was shinier and newer. But it was good to see the room looking normal again. The last time Dakota had been in here had been the night of the attack when she had held her father’s weak frame in her hands.

 

Now John Kane was sitting up in bed with the paper on his lap, smiling at his daughter. Minus the nurse and the bikers downstairs, this could have been any average day.

 

“Everything all right, Dakota?” He asked.

 

“Everything is perfect, Dad. They caught the guy, the assassin. Scarred Angels got him and handed him over the cops and nobody on our side was hurt.”

 

“And on their side?” John Kane asked.

 

“A few injuries, but nothing too serious.” She shook her head at her father who was worried about the health and safety of the men who had been sent to kill him.

 

“Good, good,” her father said with a sigh before continuing. “Dakota this is all so strange. I would never have thought that anyone would want to harm our family. Your mother and I, we always tried to live our lives in concert with God. We tried to live by the golden rule: to treat others as we wish to be treated. I guess we were hoping we could protect you, or at least not create any enemies for you. Yet here we are. Surrounded by bodyguards, imprisoned in our own home, having to use decoy vehicles. I’ll be honest with you; part of me feels like I’ve failed you.”

 

“Daddy, you didn’t-”

 

But John cut Dakota off and continued. “I’ve been thinking and thinking who it could be that I’ve angered to such a degree. Michael Martin in particular, I thought we ended on good terms. James and I have been debating this for weeks now, trying to figure out who it could be. But the world is such a large place; it could be someone we’ve never even met. I promised your mother I would protect you...”

 

“I am protected, Daddy. Nothing has happened to me.”

 

“You were attacked in this home.”

 

“Yes, but I’m fine now. You don’t have to worry; none of this is your fault. None of it at all. We’re going to find out who is doing this to us and we’re going to stop them.”

 

“I would rather you left.”

 

“What?” Dakota said; her heart had stopped. Was her father really sending her away?

 

“Paris, London, Dubai, the islands, Dakota these would all be safe places for you. We wouldn’t tell anyone where you were going. You would leave in the night and be free from all this trouble. And I would know that you were safe. I could finally stop worrying about you.”

 

“You want to send me away?” Dakota asked.

 

“I want you to be safe.”

 

“What about you?”

 

“I can’t leave, Dakota. I have far too much on my plate to walk away from it.”

 

“And I don’t?” Dakota asked. “Nothing that I do matters at all?”

 

“Of course not, but your life matters more than the things you do, Dakota.”

 

“So does yours and if you’re still in this city, so am I.”

 

“You remind me so much of your mother, do you know that? I can remember once your grandmother came over and she heard that Jasmine had spent the day in a halfway house in a terrible part of the city. My mother was furious. She said it diluted the family name to see us in such places, that it was too dangerous and not worth Jasmine’s time.”

 

“What did Mom say?” Dakota asked.

 

“She smiled and nodded and went right back there the next day.” John said smiling at his daughter. “I was always so proud of her, and I’m even more proud of you because I helped make you.”

 

“I won’t leave, Dad. And you don’t need to worry or feel guilty. I’m an adult. I can make my own decisions and look after myself. I need you to trust me.”

 

“I do, my dear. It’s the rest of the world I have come to distrust.”